Graduation Requirements

Credits

Associates: 60 semester credits

Bachelors: 120 semester credits

Masters: 30 semester credits

Doctorate: 60 semester credits

General Education Requirements

The New York State Education Department also requires that a certain percentage of credits in Associates and Bachelors programs be completed in the area of liberal arts and sciences (also known as general education). While the required proportions won’t change, the number of credits will now be computed as semester credits, as below.

Degree

NYSED Minimum Number of Semester Credits

RIT Semester Credit Requirement

Associate in Applied Science (AAS)

20

24

Associate in Science (AS)

30

30

Associate in Occupational Science (AOS) *

20

24

Bachelor of Science (BS)

60

60

Bachelor of Fine Arts

30

30

* NYS does not require general education credits for the AOS degree, but RIT does.

New General Education Curriculum

RIT has developed a new general education curriculum that will take effect in the fall semester of 2013.

If you entered RIT before academic year 2012-2013 as a first-year or transfer student, you will continue to follow the “old” general education requirements, consisting of:

One writing course (0502-227)

Two courses in the social/behavioral sciences

Two courses in the humanities

One Arts of Expression course

General education electives

If you entered RIT during academic year 2012-13 as a first-year or transfer student, you will follow the new semester-based general education curriculum.

The new curriculum consists of three categories: foundation, perspective, and immersion.

The foundation category includes a first-year seminar and a writing course.

The perspective category will introduce students to important areas of inquiry that provide ways of knowing about the world. The perspectives represented in this category are ethical, artistic, global, social, scientific, and mathematical. The number of required credits in this category will vary by degree level, as represented in Table 1 below.

Immersion is offered through a series of three related general education in a focus area linked by a theme or discipline.